Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

  • Yellow Bear Crossing

    Yellow Bear caterpillar (Spilosoma virginica), a.k.a. Virginian Tiger Moth. The very long hairs here are key to identifying this species, since they can be quite variable in coloration, starting cream to yellow and darkening with age, some becoming black. We saw a few of the older ones as well on the paved trails at Fresh…

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  • Wood Duck

    A male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) in fresh breeding plumage, which he will sport until early next summer.

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  • Mammals, Too

    We were pretty much surrounded by a Gunnison’s Prairie Dog colony, and heard them call from the meadow across the stream. A couple were sitting upright in the distance. Then a herd of Elk (Cervus elaphus) charged across the colony, surprisingly quiet, through the stream and into the misty meadow beyond. We also saw two…

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  • Late Summer, Early Fall

    Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) pods bursting.

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  • Tarantula!

    I think this is a male Arizona Desert Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes), also known as Arizona Blond Tarantula because of the female’s coloring. Our intrepid, and hawk-eyed, guide Jake swerved the van out of the way and then backed up to coax this spider onto his hand. And then, up his wrist.The males wander over a…

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  • Birds II: Life Species

    My cup overfloweth, and I didn’t have to leave the continent, much less travel south of the U.S. border. Cinnamon Teal:This is a female, with her very N. Shoveler bill. Neotropic Cormorant, smaller than our familiar Double-crested, with a pronounced white < chin patch. Eared Grebe:In breeding plumage. And below, another in non-breeding: White-faced Ibis.…

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  • Some More Southwestern Insects

    The largest beetle I’ve ever run across. It was wider than my thumb. Giant Palm Borer? Like the butterfly below, this dragonfly, a Pale-faced Clubskimmer (Brechmorhoga mendax) I think, was deceased.Queen male (Danaus gilippus) and the spider who caught him. This stink bug — genus Eleodes? — has assumed the position and is ready to…

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  • Homeboy Mammal

    First glance on rounding the corner of a shady tree: I thought this was a hairy cat on the loose. I mean, a big, low-slung hairball, one of those Persians who’s been to Paris, if you know what I mean.Woodchuck. Whistlepig. Groundhog. Land beaver. Marmota monax. In Green-Wood. I’ve seen them there before, but this…

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  • Under A Big Big Sky

    Petrified Forest National Park.Amid the lithified remains of an ancient forest, where the pebbles themselves were essentially petrified mulch, a moving white fluff on the ground was identified as a Thistledown Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla gloriosa), which is actually a wasp. The female is wingless and furry white, like the seedpod of a creosote bush or…

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  • Birds I: Some Old Friends and Variations

    I joined Wings Birding Tours for their tour of Arizona and Utah, Fall Migration in the Canyonlands. The tour superbly combined birdwatching with some of the most spectacular landscapes in the Southwest. I recommend it.On our first day on the road, we visited Boyce Thompson Arboretum, east of that sun-baked madness known as Phoenix, and…

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